They Never Knew
by BonesBaby918
Summary: A night of reminiscing with an old friend promts Elliot to confess some hidden feelings. Not your usual paring, but please give it a chance. It's complete for now but review and let me know if you want me to continue. Thanks!


A/N: This story comes from a request that I got for a Casey/Elliot fic. I know many people do not like the idea of this pairing, but I do. It is a flashback fic dealing with Casey and Elliot's high school experiences. It occurs in a happy little world where Elliot and Kathy never married or had kids. Only my second fic., so please review and be kind.

They Never Knew

"On the charge of murder in the first degree, how do you find the defendant?" Judge Donnelly asked of the foreman.

"We find the defendant guilty, Your Honor," came the reply.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak let out a long sigh of relief. As she finished gathering her papers and shook hands with the defense attorney, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Detective Elliot Stabler.

"Nice job, Counselor," he said with a smile. "How 'bout a victory dinner?"

"Sure," Casey said, returning his smile.

Thirty minutes later, the two were seated at a local diner laughing and chatting comfortably with each other. After a slight lull in the conversation, Elliot looked at Casey and said, "This was a tough case, Casey. You did a really good job with this one."

"Thanks El," Casey replied. "God, who would've thought that we'd actually be working together after all these years?"

"And doing what we said we wanted to be doing?" Elliot added.

_Flashback_

_Eighteen-year-old Casey Novak sat in the library __on a Saturday afternoon completely absorbed in her reading. __Suddenly, a hand came down hard on her shoulder and she let out a screech of surprise, earning her a few hard looks from her nearby occupants. __She turned to see the grinning face of her best friend__ of twelve years__, Elliot Stabler._

_"God, El!" she whispered. "What are you trying to do to me? Give a heart attack?"_

_"Sorry, Case," Elliot said with a smirk. "So why in God's name are you at the library on a Saturday__?"_

_"Elliot, its senior year and I have college to think about!"__ Casey said. "If I'm going to be a lawyer, then I need to get used to working hard." _

_"Casey, you__'__r__e__ already accepted to Hudson, and you know you'll get into whatever law school you want. Why are you even stressing?" Elliot asked._

_"I want to be the best Elliot," was Casey'__s simple reply._

_Elliot just smiled at her. "You will, Case. __I'd put any amount of money on it.__ We'll be a team. I'll catch the bad guys and you'll put '__em__ away.__"_

_She smiled at her friend. "Thanks, El," she said. "So do you wanna do something tonight?"_

_"I can't," Elliot said looking genuinely sorry. "I'm going to the movies with Kathy."_

_"Oh, alright," Casey said trying to mask her disappointment. __"Tomorrow?"_

_"You got it," Elliot said and he got up to leave. "I'll call you tomorrow."_

_Casey sighed as she watched her friend's retreating figure. __Elliot had starting dating Kathy about four months ago and as far as Casey could see he was crazy about her.__She had to listen to him__ as he__ talked all about their dates and about how great Kathy was. __And Casey hated it. She sighed again. __The truth was__ she was completely in love with Elliot Stabler. She had been ever since the day he shared his cookies with her on the first day of first grade. They had been best friends ever since.__Yep,__ Casey Novak had been in love with Elliot Stabler for twelve years and he had absolutely no idea. _

_End Flashback_

"Well you kept your word when you said that we'd be a team," Casey said.

"Yeah, we're a pretty kick-ass one too, now that you mention it," Elliot replied.

"Sometimes I find it hard to believe that we ended up working together after you went overseas and I went away to school," Casey mused.

"Yeah well, fate has a way of working out," Elliot told her with a smile that made her stomach cartwheel.

To be perfectly honest, Casey was still completely in love with him. After graduation, Casey went off to school and Elliot joined the service. They went their separate ways, but Casey always held a special place in her heart for Elliot. Imagine her surprise when she was hired as an ADA for the district attorney's office and found herself working with her former long time best friend. After that, the two had begun to rekindle their former friendship. Little did she know that Elliot was just as happy as she was that fate had one again thrown them together. He could still remember the day that he told her that he was leaving to go overseas. It was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do in his life. He had told her at their senior prom.

_Flashback_

_Elliot Stabler was nervous. He was driving to his date's house to pick her up for the senior prom. Even though this was a night that all teenagers look forward to, Elliot was dreading it. Tonight he would have to tell the person that he loved most in the world that he was joining the service and was going to be sh__ipped overseas. He sighed as he__ pulled into her driveway. He knocked on the door and within seconds, she answered. As soon as he saw her, all of his negative __thoughts dissolved away. He had always known how beautiful she was, but tonight she literally took his breath away. _

_"Wow," Elliot said. "Case, you look amazing."_

_"Thanks," Casey said smiling shyly. __"Ready to go?"_

_"Yeah,"__ he said, and __he helped her into his car and they left._

_No one had been more surprised than Casey when Elliot asked her to be his date to the prom. "What about Kathy?" she had asked. He had told her that he and Kathy had broken up the week before. He just didn't love her. __Casey almost fainted when she heard this, but readily accepted Elliot's request.__ The truth was__ Elliot was totally head-over-heels in love with Casey. He never believed that Casey would ever want be more than just friends, so he had started dating Kathy to try and get over her. He thought that he had convinced himself that he was over Casey and that he loved Kathy, but it got to the point where he just couldn't lie to himself any longer.__ He still didn't think that Casey could ever love him as anything more than just a best friend, but it was unfair to Kathy to keep their relationship going. So now, at their senior prom, Elliot was going to tell the girl that he loved, his best __friend, that__ he was leaving._

_The prom was almost over and Casey and Elliot were on the dance floor, dancing to a slow song. Normally, Casey would have been in heaven, but she could tell that something was bothering Elliot._

_"El," Casey said, "What's wrong?" _

_"Nothing, Case.__ Why would anything be wrong?" Elliot asked._

_"Come on, Elliot," Casey replied. "You know I can always tell when you have something on your mind. Something's wrong and you're not telling me."_

_Elliot sighed. "You're right Casey," he said. "Let's go for a walk. I have something important to tell you."_

_End Flash__back_

Elliot could remember the night he told her he was leaving like it was yesterday. She had cried, and he almost had as well. He told her that they would always be best friends and that they would meet again someday.

"You okay, El," Casey asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "It's nice out tonight. Wanna go for a walk in the park?"

"Sure," Casey replied.

Elliot got up and paid the bill and they left to make their way to the park.

They had been walking through the park for about ten minutes, just making simple small talk. However, Casey could tell that Elliot had something on his mind.

"What's bothering you El?" Casey finally asked.

"What? Nothing's bothering me, Case," he said.

Casey wasn't buying it though. "Elliot, after all these years, I can still tell when something's bothering you. So spill," she said as she pulled him down onto a nearby bench. He sighed and Casey said, "Come on Elliot, you know you can tell me anything."

"Yeah…I know, Case," Elliot said.

"So…" encouraged Casey.

Elliot sucked in a deep breath. "Do you remember senior prom when I told you that I was leaving?"

"Yeah…," came Casey's reply.

"Well there was something that I didn't tell you that night." He looked up into Casey's waiting and confused face and then back down again. "I didn't tell you that I was in love with you." He heard her suck in a breath but rushed on before she could say anything. "Actually, if I'm gonna be honest with you Casey, I never stopped." Elliot glanced up to see Casey's reaction.

"So, you're saying that you're in love with me?" Casey asked breathlessly, surprised that she was able to even form words at this point.

"Yeah…I am," was his reply.

"I love you too, Elliot," Casey said. "I've think I've been in love with you since the first grade."

Upon hearing this Elliot stood up, pulling her along with him and, with no hesitation at all, kissed her with everything he had in him.

When the kiss was finished, they rested their foreheads against one another's. "Well that only took us about twenty-eight years to do," said Casey with a smile.

"Yeah, but we have plenty of time to make up for it," Elliot replied with a mischievous grin.

And with that they made their way to her apartment.

That night, they fell asleep in each other's arms, content with where they were and happy that they had finally expressed their true feelings.

Now they knew.


End file.
